Rachael Kelsey

Spear’s Review

Based in Edinburgh, SKO Family Law founding partner Rachael Kelsey is proud of her ‘good, small jurisdiction’. 

‘The majority of interesting work is done by a small number of practitioners, and a small number of cases are litigated, unlike down south,’ she says.

Few Scottish family lawyers operate at her level: ‘She is a phenomenally good lawyer and is widely regarded as Scotland’s doyenne of family law,’ says one noted peer.

Likeable and razor-sharp, Kelsey has extensive experience acting for cases involving privacy concerns, and many of her cases have international or intra-UK jurisdictional issues. For her, the career is a perfect fit. ‘I like working with people, I love the law, and I get bored easily, so what could I possibly have done other than family law?’

Notable cases

• Villiers v Villiers (Rev 1) [2020] UKSC 30